


Accusation

by astralpenguin



Category: Death Note & Related Fandoms, Death Note (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Gen, Humor, L and Matsuda become better friends simply by looking at each other, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Sleep Deprivation, Yagami Light Needs Sleep, Yotsuba Arc, they bond over mutual ????? at Light's sleep deprived dramatics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-31
Updated: 2020-03-31
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:09:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23415070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astralpenguin/pseuds/astralpenguin
Summary: The entire taskforce stopped whatever it was they were doing.They stared at Light and L in a shocked silence.In which Light needs a lot more sleep than L realises, and his lack of it catches up to them
Relationships: L & Matsuda Touta, L/Yagami Light
Comments: 32
Kudos: 387





	Accusation

**Author's Note:**

  * For [IceBreeze](https://archiveofourown.org/users/IceBreeze/gifts).



> so my partner is very good at writing off the cuff incorrect quotes style fanfic scripts, and one day they sent me one that i loved so much that i asked if i could steal it. this is the result. i hope you enjoy :D

The investigation had stalled.

L had handcuffed Light to himself three weeks ago.

Since then, they’d made no progress.

The new Kira - because it  _ had  _ to be a new Kira - had kept killing at a steady rate. As far as L could tell, they hadn’t left any clues as to what their identity could possibly be. And all while this was happening, Light hadn’t shown any sign of being suspicious at all.

It was infuriating.

He  _ was  _ Kira. He had to be. There was no other explanation for everything that had happened prior to Light’s confinement. There was no other explanation for how Light had acted when he was accused of being Kira. There was no other explanation for the way that his personality had suddenly shifted.

But Kira kept on killing people, and so L was stuck.

The rest of the taskforce had made themselves clear that they were unhappy with Light being chained to L, but they didn’t bother trying to make L unchain him. As far as they were concerned, although L’s method was extreme, it would prove Light’s innocence once and for all. So long as Light didn’t express any overt discomfort with the situation, they were going to let it happen.

Light complained about it plenty. He just didn’t complain while the rest of the taskforce was listening.

Frustrating as being chained to someone was, Light understood why it was happening, and how important it was that he cooperate.

L appreciated that about him.

It was a shame that he was the first Kira. Otherwise, they could’ve made a good team.

It was getting late one evening. Aizawa was about to announce that he was leaving for the night, which would be the other taskforce members’ cue to pack up their things and head upstairs to their own rooms and go to bed. L would insist on staying up for a few hours longer. He and Light would keep working until about 2am, when Light would insist that even if L was some kind of alien who never slept,  _ he  _ was still human, and he’d physically drag L up the stairs if he had to. And then they’d go up to their room and Light would go to sleep while L carried on working.

Every day was the same. Nothing ever changed. None of the data they gathered ever made a difference.

Out of the corner of his eye, L could see Aizawa close the document he’d been working on.

But before he could announce that he was leaving, Light spoke up.

“Hey, L?”

L sighed. Light knew by this point that for the duration of the investigation he should be calling him Ryuuzaki.

“Yes Kira?” said L.

“Ryuuzaki,” said Soichiro. “That is not helpful.”

“If he can’t call me by the name I’ve asked him to, then I should also be allowed to call him whatever I like.”

Light sighed loudly. “Hey  _ Ryuuzaki?” _ he said.

“Yes Light?”

“Are you going to eat Kira when you catch him?”

The entire taskforce stopped whatever it was they were doing.

They stared at Light and L in a shocked silence.

L blinked.

“...What?” said L. “Why would you ask if I’m going to eat Kira when I catch him? What’s the thought process behind that?”

Maybe it was a clever trick.

Maybe he was trying to throw them all off so that he could implement the next stage in his evil plan without getting caught.

Maybe it was all part of a grand scheme that only Light himself could fully understand.

“Because you’re Pac-Man,” said Light.

Aizawa shut his laptop. The sound echoed in the silence of the room.

L looked around for help.

“Light,” said Matsuda, “what do you mean?”

L made a mental note to be nicer to Matsuda from now on. He may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he was the only one who’d responded to L’s silent plea. He could be given some actual work tomorrow, rather than being solely stuck on coffee duty.

“Don’t you see it?” said Light. “It’s the only explanation!”

L and Matsuda caught each other’s eye, exchanged expressions of confusion, and looked back at Light.

“The only explanation for what?” asked Matsuda.

Light stood, pushing his chair sharply behind him as he did so. “Don’t you see it? The constant eating of trash, and nothing but trash! The terrible posture that no human being could ever sustain without giving themself permanent damage! The mouth that opens wider than anything I’ve ever seen before! The beady black eyes that stare deep into your soul, laying everything bare but not caring enough about any of it to even acknowledge that none of your secrets are secret anymore! It all adds up! I know the truth, Ryuuzaki! L’s true identity was Pac-Man all along!”

Light finished his rant with a flourish and an elaborate gesture, pointing at L’s chest.

The room lapsed into silence as everyone stared in horror.

This silence was broken, however, when somebody started to laugh.

L whipped his head around to find the culprit.

It was Mogi. He had a hand pressed firmly over his mouth, trying to stop the giggles from escaping, but it was no use.

If the smile on Aizawa’s face was anything to go by, he was getting close to cracking up as well.

“I think,” said Soichiro, “that my son needs to go to sleep.”

“Yes Yagami,” said L. “I think you may be right.”

“I’m sorry about this,” said Soichiro. He rubbed his forehead with a handkerchief. “He gets overdramatic when he’s tired. One time, when he was fourteen, we let him stay up all night, and he spent most of the next day preparing and performing dramatic speeches about how the world didn’t care about justice enough. He’s never accused anyone of being Pac-Man before, though. That’s a new one.”

Light dropped back down into his chair.

Now that L thought about it, he really did look tired. Maybe all these late nights and early starts had taken their toll on him?

“Hey,” said Light, “if I am Kira, please don’t eat me. That’s yikes.”

L couldn’t help it. He laughed.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “I’m not going to eat you.” He stood, pulled Light to his feet, and turned to the rest of the room. “I trust that you’re able to finish up without me here?”

Matsuda stood up straight. “Yes, sir!” he said.

L nodded. “Thank you,” he said. He started to walk towards the door.

Light didn’t follow him.

L was forced to stop when he felt Light pulling back on the chain.

“Come on Light,” he said. “You need to go to bed.”

“But we never go to bed this early,” he said. “Look! Everyone else is still here! Don’t we need to catch Kira?”

Once again, L caught Matsuda’s eye. This time, instead of sharing confused expressions, they were sharing amused ones.

“Hey Light,” said Matsuda. “Misa told me earlier today that she was gonna try and come down here tonight after the rest of us had gone. She said something about wanting to spend more time with you.”

A look of panic crossed Light’s face, and in a flash he’d overtaken L and was speed-walking to the door.

L was impressed. He hadn’t known that Matsuda could be such an evil genius.

_ ‘Thank you’  _ he mouthed over his shoulder at Matsuda as Light practically dragged him out of the room.

He definitely needed to give Matsuda more responsibility in the investigation. He’d earned it.

Neither Light nor L said anything until they were inside the elevator.

As the elevator started to go up, L noticed that Light was purposefully not looking at him.

“So,” said L. “Pac-Man, huh?”

Light mumbled something.

“Sorry?” said L. “I couldn’t quite catch that.”

“You shush,” said Light. “This is all your fault.”

L smiled. “I’m sorry for not noticing how tired you were sooner. I should’ve paid more attention to how you were feeling, instead of focusing just on what you were doing. I’ll take better care in future.”

Light looked shocked, and the tips of his ears darkened. “Uh,” he said. “Sure. It’s okay.”

The elevator reached their floor.

Light rushed through his bedtime routine (L didn’t think that he’d ever known Light to pee so quickly before) and collapsed into bed.

He was out in seconds.

L sat on his side of the bed, and looked over at him.

What a way for the day to end.

It had certainly been different, that was for sure. And wasn’t that what he’d been craving? When Light, in all his tiredness, had decided to stand up and accuse L of secretly being a video game character from the 1980s, hadn’t that been just the thing that L had needed to break up the monotony that had been making him want to tear his own hair out?

True, he’d been hoping for a breakthrough in the Kira case, and this wasn’t that. But it had still been entertaining.

It had made Mogi laugh.  _ Mogi. _ And it had led to L coming to more of an understanding with Matsuda than he’d ever done before.

Maybe this Pac-Man Incident ™ had been exactly what the taskforce had needed to reinvigorate them.

The fact that he was obviously Kira aside, Light had done them all a huge favour today.

And besides. It was nice to know that even the great Light Yagami wasn’t perfect all of the time.

L felt a rush of affection for Light.

Wait.

Fuck.

This was bad.

This was very, very bad.

That rush of affection had been the beginning of a feeling.

He’d just had a feeling for Light Yagami.

And now that he’d had one, he was bound to have more.

He’d developed ill-advised crushes on people before. Every time, he’d noticed the crush early on in its lifetime, and every time, it had grown much larger no matter how hard he tried to suppress it. Once it started, nothing would stop it. He had no choice but to ride it out.

And now it was happening again.

He was catching feelings for someone.

Specifically, he was catching feelings for the man who was definitely the first Kira.

There was no way that this was going to end well.

**Author's Note:**

> i'd just like to say, for the record, that i did _not_ start the pacman thing. that's on my partner. i just think it's hilarious
> 
> comments are my lifeblood !!!
> 
> come say [hi!!](https://astralpenguin.tumblr.com/)


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